Guest opinion: Treat pot as prescription drug
Marijuana-based medicine can have medical benefit, however, that fact should be demonstrated by scientific double-blind testing. Marijuana- based drugs can then be approved by the Food and Drug Administration and controlled by doctors and pharmacies like any other prescription drug.
Following proven standard procedures for any new drugs based on marijuana is a common sense approach for those in need of actual medicinal help. There is no rational need for a separate system of pot dispensaries.
However, Ramona and California face an enormous expansion of pot dispensaries operating under the guise of providing “medical” marijuana that have no effective controls to prevent drug abuse. Ramona families well understand that these pot dispensaries are just a prelude to legalizing and dispensing recreational marijuana — soon to be followed by legalizing meth, heroin, cocaine, etc. The drug lobby’s argument being that if some vices (alcohol and tobacco) are currently legal, then all vices should be legalized. The drug lobby is primed and ready to profit off the slaves of addiction once given the green light by elected politicians.
Ordinary citizens are called hysterical in questioning the wisdom of flooding our neighborhoods with dangerous drugs. No matter that this nation already has a huge illegal drug problem destroying families and lives. Making a drug easier to obtain “legally” will only compound that problem. And just what will illegal drug lords do to their competitors, legal or otherwise? Is the savagery we often see across the border to also become the norm on this side of the border? Drug money is a cancer that consumes politicians, law enforcement and entire societies.
Life is all about choices. The choices individuals make determine the course and quality of their lives. The choices societies make determines the quality of their communities and the common environment and values they wish to pass on to their children. The fundamental choice facing Ramona and this nation is whether we as citizens have the backbone and stamina to stand up and fight hard for our children. No one else will, if we will not.
I urge all citizens to contact the Ramona Community Planning Group and our county supervisors and support all efforts to vigorously oppose pot dispensaries or any other policy that encourages drug abuse. What good can ever come from a community or a country flooded with drugs and spaced-out drug abusers? We reap what we sow. Choose wisely, Ramona!
George Eastwood is a Ramona resident.